Growing in Faith in the PsalmsНамуна

Psalm 114: I Will Tell You Why!

Why was it, sea, that you fled? Why, Jordan, did you turn back? Why, mountains, did you leap like rams, you hills, like lambs?

Psalm 114:5–6 NIV

I will tell you why! Because the Lord can command what He wants when He wants, for whatever reason He wants—that is why!

Sea (The Red Sea that Moses and the people faced as they left Egypt), you got nothing! If the Lord says to part, you part.

Jordan (The next river that was between the people of God and the promised land), you got nothing! If the Lord says to part, you part.

Mountains (the Israelites encountered a few in their journey from Egypt to the promised land), when the Lord says to shake, then start skipping like a leaping ram!

You hills (much of the geography is hilly), when compared to the matchless sovereignty of the Creator, your constant presence of challenge to the journey of God’s people is no more of a match to Him than a defenseless lamb. You got nothing!

Listen up, seas, rivers, mountains, and hills!

We, the children of God, those whom the Father has redeemed, those whom the Holy Spirit of Heaven indwells, proclaim this day: The Lord Jesus Christ is our Sovereign God and Savior. He has within His power to instruct you as He chooses. He is the Sovereign Lord and can reverse the natural order of His original design. Whatever is in His will to do, He can and will do. He can alter anything and everything according to His desired order of things.

He can say to the seas of sin, to the rivers of obstacles and issues that stand in our way, to the mountains of dysfunction, to the constant hills of issues and ailments we face—flee, split, rumble, give way, go back, open, close, dry up, move, stop, multiply, supply, provide, and be still. He can take something and turn it into a bunch of nothing. He can take nothing and make something fantastic. All He asks is that we cry out to Him in humility, surrender to His sovereignty of love and grace, and have faith in who He is.

We do not know the author of this Psalm, but we do know of his faith. Verse one assumes you know that for 430 years, the people of Israel were enslaved to the Egyptians. For seventeen generations, these people were horrifically traumatized and abused by the Pharaoh of Egypt. He begins his Psalm looking forward, not backwards. He wrote, “When Israel came out of Egypt…” Their deliverance from the Egyptians and subsequent journey to the Promised Land contained jaw-dropping, eye-popping miraculous moments of grace, provision, power, and the protection of God. They had never seen anything like this in their entire lives. When God is allowed to step into a story, everything can change. Old things can pass away, and new things can come (2 Corinthians 5:17). Your future can be very different from your history.

Still today, the miracle needed by many is the same as what the Israelites needed several thousand years ago: to be saved, to be saved from their past, to be saved from what they can not save themselves from. For others, the miracle needed is knowing God's nearness and dominion. Others need a miracle to resolve the hills, mountains, rivers, and seas of trouble they are traversing.

Are you in need of a life-changing miracle? If so, please know there is more to the story than told in Psalm 114. But the story cannot begin unless you do what the people of ancient Israel did for the Lord to do what He did. They cried out to God in their trouble (Exodus 3:7 -9). When you have done so, linger in God’s sanctuary. Take time to abide in His presence. Allow His Word to lift your hope and faith. Focus on his dominion. Declare His sovereignty. In faith, stand to your feet, look heavenward, and declare, “Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into the springs of water”. (Psalm 114:7-8 NIV)

May one day, when someone asks why you believe in the Sovereign God of Jacob, the Lord God Almighty, you can say, “I will tell you why…”

Conclusion: Today, you will complete the Growing in Faith in the Psalms plan written by Pastor Berry Johnston of Discovery Church. We hope this plan has been a blessing to you. For more from this series, please check out our other plans. If you would like to share your thoughts with us on this plan, you can contact us at info@discoverychurch.org. May God richly bless you as your faith continues to grow!